Monthly Archives: July 2018

Washington Places

Camping Outside Mount Rainier: La Wis Wis

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Mount Rainier is the crown jewel of Washington state, which means that it can get downright packed in the peak summer tourist season. So, if you’re looking to visit but having trouble finding lodging available within the park (or simply want to avoid the thickest crowds), then camping outside Mount Rainier is a great option.

There are multiple options for camping outside Mount Rainier, but today I’m going to share my thoughts on the National Forest Service’s La Wis Wis campground. I’ve written about La Wis Wis before in my Introverts Getaway Series, but that was in autumn, during the off-season.

Now that I’ve had a chance to try La Wis Wis during the busy tourist season, I’ve decided to cover it again. (This happens to be where I was camping, by the way, when I wrote my Pub Beer review.) Same campground, but different vibe, as last time I nearly had the whole place to myself but this time every spot was taken.

Three Easy Hikes at Mount Rainier

My brief summary of La Wis Wis during the busy season is simple: it’s very good. I highly recommend it to all visitors interesting in camping outside Mount Rainier. I stay at Forest Service campgrounds often, and I’d rank this as one of the better in the state of Washington.

The campground was filled to capacity when I visited in July, but my spot was wooded enough that I didn’t feel encroached upon. As you can see in the photo the left, there was a tent spot about 20 feet from the picnic table and fire ring, which is a feature I always enjoy in campgrounds.

With the separate tent spot, you don’t have to worry about stray sparks burning a hole in your tent, or about feeling crowded in when you sleep.

The fire ring has a grill and is excellently ventilated, so you can get a good hot fire going. Most of the spots are at least relatively close to water, which is also nice.

The campground is close enough to the town of Packwood that a short drive can get you to supplies, but the area in general surrounding area is so underdeveloped that it’s still nice and quiet.

The south entrance to Mount Rainier itself is not far from Las Wis Wis, which is also what makes it an ideal location for people who want to visit Rainier but not stay there. One thing that may confuse visitors is that it’s listed as being in Randle, but you drive many miles east of Randle before you get there.

You actually have to go all the way through Packwood and a few more miles east up the spectacular White Pass Scenic Byway before you get to La Wis Wis. You get ample warning that the turn is coming up, but it still kind of sneaks up on you because it’s right next to a bridge.

So, if you’re looking for camping outside Mount Rainier, I don’t believe you can go wrong with La Wis Wis. I’ll review some other sites in upcoming posts.

Beer

Pacific Northwest Beer Reviews: 10 Barrel Brewing’s Pub Beer

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This isn’t content marketing. I receive no compensation from 10 Barrel Brewing’s Pub Beer or any other product or place that I write about on Northwest Nomad. These are just my real thoughts. 

Pure and simple: 10 Barrel Brewing’s Pub Beer is a GOOD FUCKING lager. I like it so much, in fact, that I’ve decided to make it the subject of my inaugural Pacific Northwest beer review (and by “review” I mean I slammed a sixer of it while camping at Las Wis Wis and then scribbled down my drunken impressions).

First of all, let me establish my lager-drinking credentials. I grew up in Northeast Pennsylvania, sucking at the tit of Yuengling. If you haven’t heard of Yuengling, allow me to educate you.

Yuengling is the oldest standing brewery in America. The lager it produces is like Coke Cola for Northeast Pennsylvanians. You get small amounts of it put in your baby bottle (not really). At my brother’s recent wedding, it was Yuengling that we slammed directly after the ceremony (to the horror of the bride’s mother).

Point is: I know lager.

So, as pure-bred lager man, I can say confidently that Pub Beer is my favorite Pacific Northwest lager and possibly my favorite in the nation (though, as a loyal man by nature, I don’t think I could ever betray Yuengling that way by making the declaration official).

Pub Beer is also one of my favorite Pacific Northwest beers, period. We’re not talking just lagers anymore, sunshine. We’re talking motherfucking beers. As is “all of the beer.” Every damn one of them.

The Pub Beer can design says it all. There’s no hoity-toity bullshit about it. It’s what Rocky Balboa would be if you liquefied his body and poured it into an aluminum cylinder.

The design reminds of the beer from the film Repo Man. That’s a high complement, because Repo Man also happens to be the finest American film ever made (RIP Harry Dean Stanton). Some people may disagree with that statement. Then again, some people are also dumb as hell.

Repo Man (finest American film ever made) beer.
10 Barrel Brewing’s Pub Beer.

While so many beers today are racing to see who you can put the weirdest bullshit into their IPA, Pub Beer just does what it does. It doesn’t put on any airs. It’s Neil Young in flannel and blue jeans playing a beat-up acoustic guitar, not Justin Spears shaking his half-naked ass around in multi-million-dollar dance sequences designed to hide the fact that she can’t fucking sing and has nothing interesting to say.

I took Pub Beer to my camp at Las Wis Wis, which is just outside Mount Rainier. For me, bottles have never gone well with camping. For whatever reason, coming up in a country town where weekend fires were a regular thing, we always brought cans. To me, campfires are meant for crushing cans.

Without getting into the sordid details of my trip (mainly composed of me reading Mystic River and books about John Dee), suffice it to say that Pub Beer went deliciously with the mountain air and sound of the Cowlitz River running nearby.

That’s all that needs to be said. I’ve already said too much, I think. Pub Beer would beat me for my verbosity.

The whole damn article could have stopped right at the beginning. Pub Beer is a GOOD FUCKING lager. ‘Nuff said.

Rating: 10 out 10 Mount Rainiers (I’m eventually going to get actual Mount Rainier icons for this rating system and it’ll look really cool. One thing at a time, alright? Get off my damn back).